Cherkizovo is defending its practices, stating that it does not use growth promoters in its poultry production.
The Russian poultry company had been accused of using metabolic chemicals like nitrofurans metabolites by Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian federal service for veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance. The allegations state that samples of Cherkizovo’s JSC Chicken Kingdom’s chicken legs tested positive for the growth promoters. JSC Chicken Kingdom is a poultry production facility located in the Lipetsk region.
Cherkizovo called Rosselkhoznadzor’s allegations “incorrect and damaging for the company’s reputation.” It also stated the testing that was conducted was based on immunoenzyme testing, which is an outdated method with a margin of error close to 40 percent.
“The quality and biosafety of our products have always been the company’s top priority and will continue to form the cornerstone of our business. The group operates in a legal framework with strict adherence to the GOST standards and biosafety requirements at all stages of production. The company’s sites are frequently examined and none of its products have ever tested positive for growth promoters. The Lipetsk poultry production facility has recently received an export license following a thorough examination of the facility’s sanitary conditions and its adherence to strict safety standards, which highlights the extremely high standards the products manufactured at this site meet,” Cherkizovo stated in a press release.
Cherkizovo will request an official protocol of the tests that have been conducted by the Primorye Interregional Veterinary Laboratory and will carry out additional tests of the poultry meat it produces not only at the Lipetsk facility, but across all of the company’s poultry production sites.
